Piñol urges Visayas leaders to work on food security
ILOILO CITY - Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol recently told local chief executives (LCEs) in the Visayas Region to submit their local food security plans as basis for the crafting of the ‘bigger’ plan which is called the National Food Security Plan.
“This will be included in a legislation that I would like to be passed by 2019—the National Food Security Act, a five-year program defining and identifying the things that need to be done in each and every locality so that each town will be able to contribute to food security,” said Piñol during the Visayas Cluster Food Security Summit on Oct. 9 in Iloilo City.
Out of 369 local government units (LGUs) from Western, Central and Eastern Visayas, 231 were able to submit their plans as of October 9, 2018.
“I am not giving up to the mayors who did not come today; we will still reach out and follow-up their plan until the end of November. What we would like to produce here are the food requirements and potentials of each LGU,” he added.
Also during the summit, DA-6 Regional Executive Director and Cluster Head Remelyn R. Recoter discussed the agricultural profile of the Visayas Region, which has a total agricultural area of 2,462,523 hectares.
“The Visayas Cluster contributes 18.96 percent to the national rice output, white corn-14.1 percent, chicken-15 percent, egg-17 percent, pork-20 percent, beef-20 percent, lowland vegetables-11.91 percent, upland vegetables-6 percent, onion0.17 percent, garlic-1.08 percent, tilapia-1.86 percent, and milkfish-2.7 percent,” Recoter presented.
She added that Visayas Region was able to contribute R2,011,606,160 to the latest Gross Regional Domestic Product, and 13 percent share to the national agricultural Gross Domestic Product. “The Visayas Region also attained R220,986,271 current Gross Value-Added in agriculture or 17 percent share to the national,” she mentioned.
In response, the DA secretary noted that Visayas cluster should focus on vegetables, fisheries, and egg production.
“While waiting for these sectors to be developed, we could already identify the other regions or other clusters which could supply the requirements of the Visayas Cluster,” he explained.
The Food Summit, themed “Mamamayan ko, Papakainin ko!” seeks to derive realistic plans that will serve as basis of the agri programs’ expenditures starting 2020 and beyond.
Piñol emphasized to the local leaders, “you have to identify your priorities in detail,” urging them to access the different programs of DA including irrigation, easy access financing, and farm mechanization.
“President Duterte has committed R41 billion funds for the establishment of 169 solar powered irrigation systems for the next three years that can help increase rice farmers’ yield from three metric tons to six metric tons per hectare,” Piñol said.
Solar-powered irrigation system, worth R6.7 million each, can be put up in three month-period and can irrigate 500,000 hectares of new potential rice areas.
The agri chief also mentioned that in 2019, the Agricultural Credit Policy Council has R3.5 billion for the Production Loan Easy Access.
“We are happy to tell you that this year, our repayment rate nationwide is 98 percent. We are making agricultural financing more accessible and available to the farmers,” he underscored.
Mayor Geefre A. Alonsabe of Alimodian, Iloilo presented their town’s food security plan during the summit. Piñol lauded Alimodian as one of the 106 LGUs in Region 6 that had submitted their proposed food security plan.
“Alimodian, being a third class municipality, has a very small budget for agricultural development. This is the reason why we need to know your priorities, requirements and potentials towards attaining food security,” Piñol said.
On the other hand, Mayor Rustico Valderian of Tabon-tabon, Leyte was promised by DA Secretary Piñol with two units of solar-powered irrigation, two units of harvester, four mini tractors, and an initial R15 million fund under PLEA.
On the same date, Piñol met with the Iloilo rice traders and discussed policies that would address the low buying price of palay and the high cost of rice in the market.
“We need to come up with a fair price for the farmers’ produce, and fair price for the consumers,” he said. (SMHTORENO)